Baraboo’s Big Top Parade & Circus Celebration

This July 22nd, the Baraboo Community celebrates the 5th anniversary of the Big Top Parade and Circus Celebration in downtown Baraboo. For this monumental year, the Parade will honor all of current and former members of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, by naming them the parade’s grand marshals.

Responding to the January, 2017 announcement that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey touring circus will close after 146 years, the Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce, Circus World, the International Clown Hall of Fame, Sauk County Historical Society, Al Ringling Theater, Al Ringling Mansion and the Ringling House Bed and Breakfast wanted to recognize all of the people who have made that show a reality. These partners have come together and have created a colossal and captivating celebration complete with a copious cavalcade of colorful capers, crowning cast and crowds in a complete circle of contagious charm and certifiable cheerfulness.

Baraboo will be all-things-circus the weekend of, July 20-23. The Big Top Parade & Circus Homecoming will feature concerts, children’s activities, carnival games, food vendors and live performances. The main event - the Big Top Parade - on Saturday, July 22, kicks off at 11:00 a.m. Along with our grand marshals, the parade features over 75 traditional circus parade units and circus-theme entries created by community groups and businesses. "We are so proud to welcome all of these folks to the Baraboo Area. The response has been tremendous, with numerous new and exciting entries already rolling in" said Nanci Caflisch, co-chair of the committee planning the event on behalf of the Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce. "Our community is unique and full of circus history and that is certainly something to celebrate!" In years past the Big Top Parade & Circus Celebration has drawn as many as 25,000 parade spectators to Baraboo’s downtown and garnered an estimated $2.3 million in economic impact for the community. Due to the event’s popularity, quality, uniqueness and its broad appeal to both individual travelers and tour groups, the American Bus Association named the Big Top Parade & Circus Celebration to its list of Top 100 Events in North America for 2016.

“We anticipate that this prestigious Top 100 Events designation will draw even more people to this year’s Big Top Parade & Circus Celebration,” Caflisch said. “We will welcome them with a colossal celebration to honor the people of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, exciting new pre-parade entertainment, and even more spectacular parade entries.”

For more information about Baraboo’s Big Top Parade & Circus Celebration, call the Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce at 608-356-8333 or toll-free 1-800-227-2266 or visit http://www.bigtopparade.com